DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Problem Statement


The current methods of documenting and finiding a lost pet are outdated and inefficient.  In addition to tradtional collars being outdated, there does not exist an easy way to register a pet into a database and flag it as missing.  This is a problem for both the pet owner as it decreases the chances of a pet being found, aswell as the volunteers at an animal shelter as without an easy to use database system it makes what should be a quick process take much longer.  Our application will create a fast and easy way for the volunteers to update and manage a database of pet information aswell as an easy way for an everyday person with a smartphone to report a found lost pet.

 

Product Position Statement

 

***because we have yet to meet with our client the action performed after a scan is vauge as of now because we are not sure what they want specifically yet, after meeting with them this information will be updated***


Our targets include both the voulnteers of the Smithtown Animal Shelter and anyone with a smartphone who wishes to assist in finding lost pets by scanning a QR code on the pets collar to determain if it is lost.  

The entire system will consist of a few components, there will be a database managment component that will be used by the volunteers at the Smithtown Animal Shelter to easily enter/update information.  They will also be able to generate a barcode for each pet added to the database that will be put on a collar and given to the owner.  

 

The other part of the system will consist of a mobile application (planned for both iOS and Android) that is free for anyone to download which will enable them to scan the bar code on a pet that they find and beleive is missing.  When a scan occurs, the information on that barcode is sent to the database to determain whose pet it is and what action should be taken (either the scanner will contact the owner directly or the scanner will contact the animal shelter).  

 

While there are other applications that utilize barcode collars like ours, what makes ours unique is that our application will be directly integrated into the animal shelters system.  Other systems maintain their own database which is not affilliated with an animal shelter which causes a split or divide in all the information on that pet. Our system will have access to much more information on a pet that even the owner may not directly have access to or did not update.  

 

Users - as briefly mentioned above there will be two types of uses for this system, the volunteers at the animal shelter responsible for entering and updating information in the database, and the smartphone user who would be scanning the barcode on a pet they found.  The scanner will only need to follow the directions that will be on the applications scanning feature, after the scan further instruction and feedback will be presented to the scanner.  Essentially the scanner needs only basic smartphone knowledge to correctly use the application.

 

Feature List:

 

***because we have yet to meet with our client the action performed after a scan is vauge as of now because we are not sure what they want specifically yet, after meeting with them this information will be updated***

 

 

1. An easy to use database managment interface that allows the voluenteers to enter new pets into the database or update existing records

 

2. A tool that automatically generates a QR code on the fly when a new record is created, this QR code is unique to the pet and can be easily printed and physically put on a collar and given to the pet

 

3. An application for mobile devices that easily allows a user to scan a pets barcode and searches the database for that pet and then informs the scanner with clear directions of what to do next.

 

4. We want to add a feature to the app that gets the users location and refrences that location with a list of all the missing pets whose home address is near that persons current location allowing the user to know if there is a chance missing pets might be more likely to appear near them.

 

** more features will be added as we get more specs from the animal shelter**

 

Constraints

 

A constraint that is present at the moment is the method we are using for generating QR codes requires constant internet access as it talks to an external website to make the request for the image, if the website goes down or internet is not available for a period then new QR codes cannot be generated until that is resolved, we are working on alternative solution in that event.  

 

Another constraint is the fact that the success of the pet location aspect relies soley on the number of people who actually would go out of their way to scan a pet they beleive is lost.  On top of that we understand that in terms of locating a pet the ultimate tool would be real time gps installed in a pet (essentially a microchip that is always running inside the pet) which is far beyond our capabilities.  

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.